Cape Town - Three men aged between 20 and 22 have been arrested in connection with the grisly murder of 17-year-old Koketso Ramahlo, whose partially burnt body was discovered in a street near her home on Friday.
The suspects will appear in court on Tuesday to face murder charges, according to SAPS district spokesperson, Marinda Austin.
Koketso’s family is still reeling in shock, saying they were unsure if she had gone out with her boyfriend on the night of her murder.
Her mother, Nkhenthani Ramahlo, was too distraught to speak to the media but a close family friend, Julia Mkhari, spoke on her behalf.
“The pain she is enduring is palpable, and I am deeply affected by it as well,” Mkhari said.
She said Koketso left with her friends on December 31 to celebrate the new year, but she later returned home to change her clothes and went out again. She never returned home, prompting her family to launch a search on January 2.
The next day, January 3, the teenage girl’s grandmother made the horrific discovery of a lifeless, partially burnt body lying in the street near their home.
The body was later confirmed to be the missing girl, with relatives noting that she was found naked.
In response to the tragedy, the community held a meeting on Friday, resolving to organise a manhunt for the killer.
Community leader, Bulo Dinokeng urged residents to remain calm and not take the law into their own hands, despite widespread anger and outrage.
In a separate incident, a female Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) officer, Ramaabele Sophy Mothapo, was fatally shot allegedly by her partner on Christmas Eve.
The suspect fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle, heading to Limpopo Province, where he was eventually apprehended.
He appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Friday, facing murder charges.